I give
Mattel a lot of shit. I know this. But I will also give them credit
where credit is due and say that Mattel’s WWE line is one of the
best toy lines available today. And not just their collector-oriented
Elite series. Their standard line features a bit less in the way of
articulation and accessories, but seems to be about equal on decos.
It uses parts originating with the Elite line but farmed out to the
simpler figures, so the likenesses and body types tend to be about on
par with the Elite series. The genius of this is that nobody is
alienated. You could collect your favorites in the Elite format and
fill in the ranks with the basic figures.
But then
Mattel came along with great likenesses, excellent articulation, and
accurate scale. This was the thing that had bothered me most about
JAKKS’ figures. There was barely any height difference between Rey
Mysterio and Undertaker and that’s just darn silly. JAKKS figures
shared a lot more parts than they should’ve, and while I was an
avid collector of their product for years, that always bothered me.
I’ve
been watching WWE since the beginning of the year. I enjoy more of it
than I used to. I think they used Daniel Bryan well, I like Damien
Sandow’s current gimmick (or run of gimmicks), Randy Orton is
finally acting the way I think Randy Orton should act (as a douchy,
kind of chicken-shitty heel rather than any kind of character we’re
supposed to take seriously), the women’s division seems stronger
than it’s been in a long time, STARDUST AND GOLDUST, the
McMahon/Helmsley Era is back, Rousev/Lana versus Swagger/Coulter is
great, DCW Hooligan Xavier Woods is on TV every week, and all kinds
of other fun wrestling goodness. I’m even watching NXT from time to
time, for Hulk’s sake.
But one
of my favorite phenomena currently happening is the Wyatt family.
They’re weird, they’re excellent
at their gimmicks, and every single time they’re on TV they
basically do the same thing but it’s still interesting somehow.
Only two things bug me about these guys – I don’t like when the
crowd cheers them (though I can see a huge babyface turn working
under the right circumstances), and Harper and Rowan’s tag team
entrance music is lame and generic.
I saw
pictures of the Elite Series figures of the Wyatts a couple of months
ago and knew I would have trouble resisting them if I saw them at
retail. I saw Bray for the first time a few weeks ago at a Target and
managed to resist. I don’t need any more wrestling figures. I just
don’t. Then I saw him again while we were on vacation in North
Carolina. I controlled myself once again. But after we left the store
I kept thinking about how cool the figure looked and wondered if I
would see one again. I don’t know what distribution is like on WWE
figures. We returned to the same store a couple of days later, Wyatt
was still there, and I bought him.
And then
found Series 29 at Target on the way into work today and bought Luke
Harper, Erick Rowan, and that new Andre the Giant with the hilarious
wig and removable singlet.
DAMN YOU
GATEWAY TOYS.
FIRST
GLANCE
If
this wasn’t Bray Wyatt, I would probably be making fun of the base
figure’s outfit. Baggy white pants and a black tank top with a
chest pocket – a
chest pocket
– is not a good look. And then the boots, which I would probably
refer to as Cactus Jack knockoffs. But this is
Bray Wyatt, so with the tattoos and beardiness and accessories he
looks pretty cool.
PACKAGING
The
WWE Elite series packaging is nice. It isn’t too
overdone and fits the figures nicely without a ton of wasted space.
The shape and graphics are eye catching and I like that the graphic
depicting the wrestlers is nice and big, it’s on the front of the
box in a prominent position, and it doesn’t block any portion of
the figure. Bray does look a little tubby, though. I’ve noticed
that the pictures on these look sort of like the character select
screen pics in the video games.
I
like the description of Bray’s shirt as “Tropical”. Is
“Hawaiian” copyrighted?
I
love this bio. This is great stuff compared to what’s on most
retail Mattel products. It covers as much as is known about Wyatt’s
background, names his finisher, and references feuds. Great stuff.
LOOKS
The
head sculpt is fantastic. Not only is there no doubt that this is the
sinister head of the Wyatt Family, there are tons of well done little
details. The beard and hair have just enough sculpting to look good
and have the right textures – the beard is full and the hair looks
lank and flat like Wyatt’s always does. The facial likeness is very
good, though I feel like those eyebrows make him look a little too
jolly. They could stand to be thinner and maybe a little lower or
more angled inward. The rest of the paint is great. The eyes are
centered and the mouth has distinct lips and teeth with all of the
apps staying within their spots.
The
body is the right shape – a muscular but round torso. The shirt has
a texture to it and the right cut. It isn’t just a generic tank top
torso they used because it sort of looked right.
The pants are also
very character-specific. They look like the odd cross between track
pants and slacks that Wyatt wears. The hip joints are a little ugly,
but I’ll take that considering this is a figure that is by its
nature more action- and pose-oriented than most.
The
boots are just the basic lower portion that’s probably shared by a
lot of these figures. The snakeskin design is painted and not
sculpted, but I really don’t find that to be a big deal.
The
arms are where this figure stands out. The shape of the arms is fine,
but the tattoos are incredible. Not just for the number of paint apps
involved, but for the way they are worked into the joints. For the
most part, posing the arms does not cause awkward breaks or gaps in
the designs. I'm shocked at the crucified Christ on Wyatt's left arm. It wouldn't surprise me if future releases had something different. Both sides of the debate could have problems with that image. The deco goes as far into the joints as it possibly can.
It’s some impressive work. The tape on Wyatt’s right arm isn’t
sculpted, but the paint is flat and is so distinctive from the rest
of the arm that it looks okay. I’d still prefer a sculpt, but this
isn’t bad. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed the red markings on
Bray Wyatt’s taped arm, but they seem too big and specific to be
errors.
ACCESSORIES
Bray
comes with his trademark “Tropical” shirt and fedora.
The
fedora looks very good and fits perfectly on the figure’s head. And
it stays
there. JAKKS had a lot of trouble with headgear on figures. Mattel
has created a hat the looks good, fits the figure, and stays put.
Amazing.
The
shirt is about as good as you could expect something like this to be.
It doesn’t have sleeves or a collar, but once it’s on the figure
it looks pretty good. The material has a wonderful print on it and
hangs well. That’s usually a problem at this scale.
FUN
The
figure is a lot of fun. The articulation is fantastic and unlike
other WWE figures is unencumbered by knee or elbow pads that restrict
the usefulness of the joints. I played around with Wyatt longer than
I have most other retail figures in recent memory.
Since
I haven’t reviewed one of these in a long time (if ever – I don’t
think I ever got around to the Daniel Bryan I meant to review), I’ll
go ahead and list the articulation:
Head
– ball joint
Shoulders
– ball joint
Biceps
– swivel
Elbows
– pivot
Wrists
– swivel/pivot
Abdomen
– pivot
Waist
– swivel
Hips
– Ball joint
Thighs
– swivel
Knees
– double pivot
Ankles
– pivot
Foot
– pivot
The
head is restricted a bit by the beard and long hair, but all of the
joints have a satisfying range. The abdomen and elbows bend more
deeply than most other figures of this scale.
The foot articulation
is hard for me to explain. It’s sort of like the rocker joints
Mattel used to put on their DC and Masters of the Universe Classics
figures, but it works so much better. The ankle pivots forward and
back and the foot pivots side-to-side.
This
is a great bunch of articulation and perfectly satisfactory for a
wrestler.
If
you’re curious, the differences between this and a basic release
are the abdominal pivot, ball joint hips, double pivot knees, and
rocker feet. I’m pretty sure the basics use ball joint heads since
most of the head sculpts end up being shared. I don’t think the
basics have as many different body sculpts as the Elite, either, so
while Elite CM Punk and Evan Bourne may have different torsos, basics
of the same guys might be the same.
I
liked Bray so much I had to go and get Daniel Bryan for him to beat
up:
OVERALL
What
a great and satisfying figure. For under twenty bucks, as well.
I’m
not necessarily happy with myself for weakening and buying another
wrestling figure when I was finally out, but at least it’s a very,
very good figure. Not perfect, but for under twenty bucks darn good.
If you’re a fan of Bray Wyatt, I say go find one of these.
4
out of 5
Preferably
go and find one on Amazon and help ol’ Phantom pay the bills around
this joint:
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